This invention relates generally to vehicle rearview mirror systems and, more particularly, to digital electrochromic rearview mirror systems.
Digital electrochromic mirror systems are described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,089,721 entitled DIGITAL ELECTROCHROMIC MIRROR SYSTEM and U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,410 entitled DIGITAL ELECTROCHROMIC MIRROR SYSTEM, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference. Such systems are capable of controlling the reflectance level of an electrochromic element from the output of a microcomputer.
Various forms of vehicle communication systems have been developed including wired networks, or busses, operating one of several known protocols. These include a LIN (Local Interconnect Network), a LAN (Local Area Network), a CAN (Car or Controlled Area Network), and the like. An advantage of such vehicle networks is that the wire harness to the mirror can be minimized to as few as three wires or so, yet provide a variety of functions. Wireless communication networks utilizing radio frequency and/or infrared communication for vehicles have also been proposed, such as those utilizing the BLUETOOTH protocol. Such wireless communication and the BLUETOOTH protocol are described in more detail in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/793,002, filed Feb. 26, 2001, entitled VIDEO MIRROR SYSTEMS INCORPORATING AN ACCESSORY MODULE, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Trainable garage door openers, such as a universal garage door opener available from Johnson Controls/Prince Corporation, Holland, Mich. under the trade name HOMELINK(trademark), include a transmitter for a universal home access system, which replaces the switch in a household garage door opener that opens/closes the garage door. A garage door opener communicating with a smart switch that is programmable to a household specific code that is of the rolling code type, such as is available from TRW Automotive, Farmington Hills, Mich. under the trade name KWIKLINK(trademark), is known to be mounted within vehicles. As described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,172,613 B1, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, the universal garage door opener HOMELINK(trademark) unit or the universal home access KWIKLINK(trademark) unit may be mounted at, within, or on an interior rearview mirror assembly. The KWIKLINK(trademark) system is a low-current device that can, optionally, be operated off of a battery source, such as a long-life lithium battery. It is also compact and lightweight as executed on a single- or double-sided printed circuit board.
The present invention provides a new and unique combination of a digital electrochromic mirror system, a vehicle accessory and a vehicle network, and, more particularly, a combination of a digital electrochromic mirror system, a garage door opener and a vehicle network. According to an aspect of the invention, a vehicular rearview mirror system includes a digital electrochromic mirror system having a digital drive circuit and an electrochromic reflective element. The reflective element assumes a partial reflectance level in response to a drive signal. The drive circuit provides a drive signal to the reflectance element. The mirror system further includes a garage door opener including a transmitter and a logic circuit. The logic circuit supplies signals to the transmitter for transmitting garage door opening signals. The mirror system further includes a microcontroller which defines, at least in part, the digital drive circuit and the logic circuit. In this manner, the digital electrochromic mirror system has components in common with the garage door opener. According to this aspect of the invention, the microcontroller communicates over a vehicle network with at least a module performing at least one other vehicle function. The vehicle network may have at least wired network connections and may further have wireless connections. The vehicle network may have a protocol selected from the group consisting of a LIN, a CAN, or a LAN.
According to this aspect of the invention, the digital drive circuit and the logic circuit may be mounted on a common circuit board. Power to the digital drive circuit and logic circuit may be supplied from a battery, preferably a rechargeable battery, that is separate from the vehicle ignition. The battery may be charged from a solar power system.
According to another aspect of the invention, a vehicle rearview mirror system includes an interior rearview mirror system made up of an electrochromic reflective element, a housing for the electrochromic reflective element and a circuit board in the housing. The electrochromic reflective element assumes a partial reflectance level in response to a drive signal. A digital electrochromic drive circuit is provided on the circuit board and supplies a drive signal to the reflective element. The mirror system further includes a garage door opener. The garage door opener includes a transmitter and a logic circuit, at least one of which (and preferably, both) is on the circuit board, and share components with, the electrochromic drive circuit. The logic circuit supplies signals to the transmitter for transmitting garage door opening signals. The garage door opener may, optionally and preferably, also serve as a receiver or a transceiver for a tire pressure status monitoring/display system, such as disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/513,941, filed Feb. 28, 2000, entitled TIRE INFLATION ASSISTANCE MONITORING SYSTEM, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/710,016, filed Nov. 10, 2000, entitled TIRE INFLATION ASSISTANCE MONITORING SYSTEM, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference, and thus have a dual tire pressure monitoring/display and garage door opener function. The mirror system further includes a microcontroller which defines, at least in part, the digital drive circuit and the logic circuit. The digital electrochromic mirror system has components in common with the garage door opener. The microcontroller communicates over a vehicle network with at least one module performing at least one other vehicle function.
These and other objects, advantages and features of this invention will become apparent upon review of the following specification in conjunction with the drawings.